Some people may have questions as to how we homeschool with a large family. Here I will break down what we do and what curriculum we used this past year.
With eight children, five of whom are school age, I need a system to homeschool that doesn’t take all day. We begin our day, usually around 8:30 or 9:00 AM, together as a family with a song and prayer followed by our read-aloud book and then the subject we are covering together on that day. We do not do each subject every day but rather have a rotation and every day is something new. Once we are done our family school (usually somewhere around 9:30-10:00), the kids then go work on their independent studies.
Subjects We Study Together
- History
- Science
- Art/Poetry/Music
- Manners/Etiquette
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For our history curriculum, the last couple years we worked through the America the Beautiful by Notgrass. We finished up the second textbook this year and really enjoyed it. I am originally from Canada so I learned a lot about America’s history through this program. I’m sure I will use it again once my younger kids are older and can retain more from it.
For science this past year, we used some of The Good and the Beautiful’s science units. We learned about Marine Biology and Space Science. We enjoyed these units, and I also appreciated that there were extensions for my 12-year-old daughter to dig deeper. I’m thinking to continue using these in the next school year.
Curiosity Stream was also a tool we used. My children especially loved the animal videos and also the films about the national parks.
In the 2020-21 homeschool year we focused our attention on poetry. We used A Child’s Introduction to Poetry and the accompanying audio to learn about different poetry styles as well as different poets. We have also used A Child’s Introduction to the Orchestra in the past to learn about all the different instruments in an orchestra.
Every year I like to include manners and/or etiquette in our learning. I think it’s good to continue to remind our children of how to behave every day and in new situations they may come across. We used A Kid’s Guide to Manners this past year and am planning to use Connoisseur Kids when we start our 2021-22 school year.
Individual Subjects
Each child then has their subjects that they need to do individually. These include:
- Math – We use Math Mammoth and have our books printed at The Homeschool Printing Company.
- Language Arts – This was our first year using The Good and the Beautiful’s language arts program, and we will be sticking with this. I really like how it covers reading, spelling, grammar, art appreciation, and geography.
- Handwriting – We use The Good and the Beautiful’s handwriting books as well. They often work on these while listening to an audio book.
- Science – In addition to science units we did as a family, my oldest also worked on the Apologia’s Exploring Creation with General Science. She will continue with this next year.
It can be overwhelming to choose homeschool curricula but I hope that sharing what we use can give you some ideas! I would love to hear from you. What books/curriculum work well in your homeschool?
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Absolutely love this❗️❗️… and this blog! Life has been so busy but just meandering through the content with my morning coffee today has been so relaxing! It actually felt like it took me back to simpler carefree days in life❗️ I will definitely continue to follow and try out the recipes😋